India piles up its highest score in Day 1 in a test abroad

India which is touring in Srilanka shattered many records yesterday on Day 1 of the First Test match. India scored a mammoth 399 for 3 at the end of Day 1 which is so far the best on Day 1 in an overseas venue. The previous best was 375/9 against New Zealand at Wellington in 2008-2009. However it is not the highest that Team India has scored in a day. They had scored 417/2 versus Srilanka in Kanpur in 2009-10.

India lost the first wicket very early. When the score was just 27, opener Abhinav Mukund was dismissed for 12 runs. Then came Cheteshwar Pujara who joined hands with Shikhar Dhawan. The duo added an impressive 253 runs for the third wicket bettering 237 between Sehwag and Rahul Dravid at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in 2009-2010.

Virat Kohli entered the crease when Shikhar Dhawan was out for 190. It was the best score for Dhawan in Tests bettering 187 versus Australia on his test debut. With this score, he also had an impressive strike rate of 113.09 which lags only behind Sehwag’s 115.35 SR.

Dhwan is fourth on the list to have scored so many runs in a single day. The first three scores were Virender Sehwag’s 228 (vs Pak, Multan, 2003-2004) and 195 (vs Australia, Melbourne, 2003-2004) and Wasim Jaffer’s 192 (vs Pakistan, Kolkata, 2007-2008). He also scores 126 runs between lunch and tea session which is the second best for an India. The first one is being scored by Sehwag who scored 133 versus Srilanka in the Brabourne Stadium.

Kohli did not shine yesterday and was dismissed for 3. Then came Ajinkya Rahane who cemented the partnership avoiding further fall of wickets. The duo added another 113 runs. Both the batsmen were at the crease at the end of Day 1 with Pujara on 144 and Rahane on 39.